Amherst, Mass. -
Duquesne University's men's soccer team stretched their winning streak to three games with a 4-1 victory over Massachusetts Sunday afternoon at Rudd Field. The win, which improves DU's mark to 12-6-0, 8-2-0 in the Atlantic 10, keeps the Dukes atop the league standings, one game ahead of Dayton (10-6-1; 7-3-0) which shut out La Salle, 4-0.

The Dukes also clinched a spot in the 2004 A-10 Championship Tournament that will be held at the Athletic Complex at Mount Vernon in Washington, D.C., starting Thursday, November 11, 2004.

Duquesne opened the scoring at the 7:27 mark of the first half when freshman Travis MacKenzie headed senior Jason Sourbeer's pass beyond the grasp of UMass goalie Nick Billman. Two minutes later, junior Andrew Bell's 15 footer put the Dukes up 2-0 with what proved to be the game-winning goal.

UMass got on the scoreboard when Oral Bullen set up Mike Maggione at the right side of the net narrowing the margin to 2-1 with 22:04 gone in the period. Duquesne sophomore Brian Bartek's header returned the lead to 3-1 on an assist by junior Steve Mellor with 31.31 on the clock.

The Minutemen upped the offense in the second half but were unable to get past DU's defense and goalie Zach Varga, who recorded four saves in the win. The Dukes secured the win on senior Matt Mehler's penalty shot goal with less than 10 minutes remaining in regulation.

Duquesne, which had outshot UMass 10-4 in the first half, ended up with a 13-9 edge when the whistle blew. UMass led on corner kicks, 9-3.

Massachusetts is 8-8-2 overall, 5-3-2 in league play.

The Dukes close the regular season at St. Bonaventure (8-8-1, 4-6-0) on Sat. Nov. 6, 2004 at 1:00 p.m.